On Fri, 6 Jun 1997 15:00:45 -0700, Mark Bixby <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
|Too many darn incompatible versions of mover! :-(
And with the same version number in the banner, no less! :( This is a very
unfortunate state of affairs, especially since so many very helpful and even
downright necessary (as in MPE patches) tools depending on it. Perhaps the
best solution would be to leave behind this particular tool (and the
confusion it continues to generate) and move to some other tool that does
the same job but with less confusion and better technical features too.
It seems to me that LZW (written by Telamon, as I understand it) is very
similar in functionality to mover with the additional advantages of:
(1) being available on multiple platforms including MPE/iX(NM), MPE/V(CM),
HPUX, MS-DOS and others.
(2) using LZW compression instead of RLE (which is far less effective)
[Note: I am uncertain that mover uses RLE, but that is my impression.]
Both mover and LZW provide functionality very similar to PKZIP with which
many of us are familiar, however, LZW seems to be better at it than mover
and certainly seems to have less confusion surrounding it. It's entirely
possible that something makes LZW unsuitable for replacing mover, but I
don't know what it might be. If LZW isn't appropriate, then (IMO) another
substitute should be found for mover or a new version of mover should be
released (with a new, higher and UNIQUE version number) which ideally should
be able to read from either mover format commonly found now.
P.S. In case it's not obvious, I suggest that LZW be used for all future
software "packaging" tasks where mover has been used. It does the
task for which it was designed simply, easily and well, just like
the HP3000, MPE and Image. ;)
--
Jeff Woods
[log in to unmask] at Unison Software
[log in to unmask] at home [PGP key available here via finger]
"In order to be an immaculate member of a flock of sheep,
one must above all be a sheep oneself." -- Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
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